Serving as tribal totems and religious symbols, they were sometimes consumed as meat although less frequently than in other parts of the Pacific because of their scarcity.

Modern dog populations on the island are the descendants of foreign breeds later reintroduced in the 19th century as companions for European settlers.

[1][3] French Catholic missionary René-Ildefonse Dordillon listed two other forms: mohoʻio and mohokio in his 1904 dictionary Grammaire et dictionnaire de la langue des iles Marquises.

[5] Many petroglyphs or carved images of dogs were found near religious centers and chiefly residential areas indicating their venerated status and importance in the culture.

A survey by American archaeologist Sidsel N. Millerstrom noted that a majority of dog petroglyphs have been found in the valleys of ʻAʻakapa, Haʻatuatua, and Hatiheu on the northern coast of Nuku Hiva, the meʻae Vaikivi on Ua Huka, and the meʻae Iʻipona and Eiaone Valley on Hiva Oa.

Millerstrom noted that these representations deviated from the typical characteristics of the Polynesian dog and wondered if they were meant to be realistic.

The early post-contact dog is white or spotted, small to medium size, with pointed snout and ears, and a long tail.

[5]German archaeologist Karl von den Steinen was the first European visitor to observe evidence of ancient dogs in the Marquesas in 1897–98.

In his excavation of meʻae Iʻipona, a temple complex near the village of Puamaʻu on the northeastern coast of the island of Hiva Oa, he uncovered several stone tiki including two with zoomorphic (animal shaped) quadruped figures carved on them.

[5] During this period, the property and temple site was owned by Reverend James Kekela, a Hawaiian Protestant missionary, who von den Steinen befriended.

The head bore totem motifs of quadrupeds and little stick figures representing the Marquesans etua (gods) tattooed on each side of its mouth.

[10] In 1956, Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl later claimed the reliefs on Tiki Makiʻi Tauʻa Pepe were llamas or pumas instead to bolster his theory that Polynesia was settled from South America.

[5][10][16][17] Later unidentified writers and rumors have insinuated that Heyerdahl deliberately altered and defaced the images in his process of restoring them.

[20] One of the first reported cases was a New Haven dog named Pato, who had been "found guilty of sheep stealing about the year 1797 and was banished for the above crime".

[20][23] By the 1890s, English traveler Frederick William Christian noted the ideological conflict over dog meat consumption as island populations increased.

[2][24] French artist Paul Gauguin depicted scenes including dogs in the Marquesas in several works while he lived on Hiva Oa.